Study Hour
by QueenLydia
Summary: Kitty takes it upon herself to help Lance bring his grades up. However, studying isn't easy when you're more focused on your girlfriend than on what she's trying to teach you...


"Lance," Kitty declared proudly, leaning back to take in the array of textbooks spread out on Lance's bed, "you are _so _going to ace this biology test."

"Are you... sure we have enough books?" asked Lance, eyeing the spread in front of him dubiously. he was pretty sure he'd never had so many books in his room at one time in his life. Not that he was especially complaining; all the books left very little room to sit on his bed, so while Lance was leaning against the wall Kitty had ended up curled right next to him in the only area that wasn't completely concealed by hardcover science textbooks. As his lab partner, Kitty couldn't help but take notice of Lance's rapidly slipping grades anytime the teacher handed his tests back. So, with an important upcoming test this Monday, Kitty had made it her duty to help Lance pass the class this semester. Lance, of course, had no complaints.

As he wasn't exactly welcome at the mansion, the two had elected to work at the Brotherhood house- on a Friday night, when Pietro would be out on a date, and Tabby, Blob, and Toad would be out doing... something, like they almost always did on Friday nights. Most nights, Lance would join them. But a night with Kitty was not something he could just pass up.

"Okay," Kitty said as she picked up one of the nearest books. "The test this week is going to be on cell division."

"Uhh..." Lance couldn't keep his face from reddening slightly. "Cell what?"

Kitty sighed. "Lance, I don't understand. You used to get good grades in this class."

He did used to get good grades- in most of his classes, actually. But there were bill that needed to be paid- water and food and electricity, all things that stealing cash from vending machines and picking pockets couldn't exactly cover. Lance had gotten a second job, and working so much had left him very little time for paying attention to his studies. In fact, he was pretty sure that for the past few weeks he'd been skipping more Biology classes than he went to- and Biology happened to be his favorite class, because he got to sit next to Kitty. But, of course, he wasn't about to tell Kitty about any of this. She didn't need to be worried about them, and she probably wouldn't understand anyway.

"I guess," he sighed, "I just haven't been paying much attention lately."

Kitty frowned, flipping through the book until she settled on the beginning of a chapter. "Well," she said lightly, "the good news is, you've got me to help you. And I'm going to make sure you get back on top of your grades." In spite of himself, Lance realized that he was smiling- he just couldn't help it. She was so beautiful; when she spoke, he felt like he could listen for hours.

And that was a good thing, because from the looks of it, he and Kitty were going to be here for a good few hours.

"Alright," Kitty began, casting a sideways glance at him and smiling a bit too when she saw how he was looking at her. "Let's talk about mitosis. You know what that is, right? Mitosis is the process in which a cell splits into two identical daughter cells..."

They had to sit there for hours- Kitty and Lance, sitting side by side next to each other as Kitty slowly read out of several books and Lance listened raptly, absorbing every word she said... simply because it was coming from her.

Well, he might have been absorbing, but he wasn't really comprehending it, and Kitty was no idiot. Eventually she realized that Lance was listening more for the purpose of hearing her speak than anything else; so, in order to determine whether he'd actually picked anything up in her reading at all, she decided to devise a test.

"Lance," she said suddenly once she'd come to the end of a paragraph, and the boy in question looked up at her. "In what phase of mitosis does DNA make a copy of itself?"

Lance's brown eyes widened, and he blinked up down at her for a moment, the mildly panicked expression that Kitty could tell he was taking good care to hide easily informing Kitty that he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Lance," she sighed, shaking her head and allowing the book to fall shut.

"Kitty, I'm sorry! I just got a bit distracted watching you, is all..."

"If I'm doing this for nothing, then I don't see the point," she retorted, frowning at him. Lance quickly shook his head.

"No- Kitty, no. I really do need the help, and you really are helping me. I'm trying to focus, I swear. I _want_ to get good grades."

Kitty looked mildly unconvinced, but after a minute of searching Lance's earnest expression her face softened. He looked almost exactly like a puppy- so sincere and eager to please that Kitty was unable to keep herself from smiling slightly. "What time is it?" She asked, squirming a bit in Lance's grip- sometime in the last couple of hours she had ended up in his arms- and feeling a bit surprised by the stiffness in her back as she shifted to look over at the clock on Lance's bedside table.

"It's... nine o'clock. Wow." Lance looked down at Kitty, brow furrowed. "Shouldn't you be getting back to the mansion soon? Don't you guys have, like, curfew or something?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't have to be home until ten-thirty anyway, and they know I'm with you. They don't exactly like it, but..."

Lance snorted. "I'm surprised Summers didn't try to follow you here. Again."

Kitty's eyes narrowed teasingly. "Maybe he did. Who knows? Scott could be hiding under your bed, right now."

"Uhh... no he couldn't," Lance said quickly, immediately thinking of the mounds of dirty clothing and trash he had shoved under his bed just before Kitty had arrived in order to give his room the appearance of cleanliness. He didn't care how crafty Summers got, there just wouldn't be any room for him.

Kitty looked like she wanted to ask, but instead she just shook her head, hiding a yawn behind her hand. Lance's eyebrows knitted in concern. "Are you tired?" he asked, and she looked up at him in surprise.

"No... well, maybe a little bit. I've been reading to you for two hours."

Lance looked down at the book in her lap, picking it up. "Okay- how about this: you take a break and I'll read to myself for a bit. Okay?"

"Okay," Kitty nodded obligingly. "Maybe then you might actually absorb more of the information you're supposed to be learning."

Lance rolled his eyes as Kitty settled back, using his arm as a cushion, and opened the book to the place where he remembered Kitty leaving off. He'd been reading for no more than five minutes when he was surprised by Kitty shifting her position so that her head was resting on his knee and she was cradles in his lap. Looking down at her with wide eyes, Kitty smirked up at him. "It's more comfortable like this."

Although he was taken aback, Lance simply shrugged and said, "Alright then, Kitty Cat." With a drowsy smile, Kitty closed her eyes again.

After that, Lance couldn't focus on his reading, no matter how hard he tried. Still, he kept it up for a good ten more minutes before, to his surprise, he realize that Kitty had actually fallen asleep in his lap. "Huh," he murmured, staring down at her for a moment before setting the book down on top of one of the other textbooks.

It wasn't often that Lance Alvers was at a total and complete loss as to what to do... this was one of these moments. Lance... just really had no idea what to do now that Kitty had fallen asleep on him. He couldn't move, for obvious reasons- any movement would just wake her up, and he really didn't want that. He definitely couldn't focus on reading anymore. So, for the moment, he finally decided that he would just focus on... her.

Her hair was spread out under her, a soft brown pillow under her head, and Lance could not resist running his fingers through her dark ponytail. Her hair felt like silk- running his fingers along it, it was easy for Lance to imagine that he was touching the finest strands of fabric known to man, something even Pietro would covet. Of course, everything of Kitty's was precious to Lance; she was beyond beautiful.

Twining her hair around his fingers, he settled back against his wall, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible; and quietly, so as to not wake Kitty as he did so, he began to sing quietly.

No one had ever sang to Lance as a child; maybe his mother did, before she died, but that was too far back for Lance to remember. He had no idea what songs normal people sang to sing their loved ones to sleep- so, he decided, screw it. He wasn't exactly normal anyway.

_"When you were here before,_

_I couldn't look you in the eyes,_

_You're just like an angel,_

_Your skin makes me cry."_

It was awkward at first, singing in front of Kitty- even a sleeping Kitty. He could sing in front of the Brotherhood just fine, but that was different; for one thing, he always had his guitar with him, and he also knew that the Brotherhood probably couldn't care less what he did with it. Singing with Kitty was different, because he actually wanted to impress her.

_"You float like a feather,_

_In a beautiful world,_

_I wish I was special,_

_You're so very special._

_But I'm a creep,_

_I'm a weirdo,_

_What the hell am I doing here?_

_I don't belong here."_

Kitty stirred for a moment, and Lance froze, terrified of waking her from her slumber. To be honest, he had almost been falling asleep himself; now he shook himself awake, not entirely, but just enough so that he was able to take care not to wake Kitty.

_"I don't belong here,_

_I don't belong here..."_

Finishing the song with a final sigh of breath, Lance leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Before he even knew it, with a hand still entwined in Kitty's hair, he found himself falling asleep.

When Pietro returned home from his date about three hours later, he found Lance's door slightly ajar- this is what took him by surprise more than anything, because Lance was nearly as infamous as Pietro himself for keeping his bedroom door shut at all times. When he walked in to find Lance asleep, with Kitty lying in his lap, he actually didn't find himself completely surprised. He had known Lance was planning on studying tonight... and Lance had never exactly been that good at studying in the first place.

Clearing his throat quietly was enough to rouse Lance, always the light sleeper. "Morning, sunshine," Pietro commented dryly, smirking as Lance's drowsy expression quickly shifted from one of bewilderment to alarm. "Relax!" he exclaimed as Lance made to bolt up from the bed, completely disregarding the sleeping Kitty in his lap. "It's midnight. You and Kitty had a little nap."

"Oh," Lance said softly, glancing down at the still-sleeping Kitty and stroking her head again gently. "Wow. Umm, I'd better wake her up..."

Pietro said nothing more- simply gave Lance a smile and a quick wink before turning out of his room once more, heading into his own and shutting the door behind him. Gently, Lance shook Kitty awake.

"Hey... Kitty... wake up. C'mon, it's late. You need to get home."

Kitty sat up slowly, blinking drowsily up at Lance as she did so. "Lance? Where are- oh." A quick glance at the clock caused her eyes to widen in surprise. "Oh. I've got to get back- everyone's going to be worried. Maybe I'll be able to phase in without anyone noticing... yeah right, that'll never work... ugh." Sighing, she pressed a hand to her head and groaned, before suddenly brightening. "Wait, I've got it! I could call Kurt- he'll be able to teleport here and have me back before anyone even knows I wasn't there. He likes to stay up late on Fridays anyway." Kitty smoothly slid off of Lance's bed, gathering up an armful of books as she did so.

"You can use to phone downstairs," Lance suggested, still a bit drowsy from his nap. "I'm pretty sure that bill's all paid."

Kitty nodded, glancing over her shoulder at the door once before turning back to lance. "Thanks, Lance," she murmured, and before he even knew what had happened, she planted a quick kiss on his forehead.

As Kitty began to walk out his door, Lance called out to her and caused her to turn around. "Good night, Pretty Kitty!"

Kitty smiled back at him. "Good night, Lance. And, by the way-" Her smile turned into a full on grin. "You're actually a really nice singer."

And then she was gone, slipping out the door and downstairs faster than Lance's sleepy mind could even register what she had said. Once he finally got it, his eyes widened; however, Kitty was already gone, and Lance was left to his dreams alone again.

**_AN: I neither own Evo (well, obviously) or Radiohead's "Creep", which is, by the way, so a band that Lance would listen to._**


End file.
